TOO MANY IDEAS...NOT ENOUGH COFFEE...

Rants, raves, fiction, and laughs

Thursday, October 14, 2010

The Vampire in Times Square

In 2008 I awoke in a cold sweat from a dream. In this dream a young girl flies to Time square where she is met by a Vampire in a leather jacket and a "Guns 'N' Roses" t-shirt singing "Welcome to My Nightmare" by Alice Cooper. I ran to the computer and for the next 2 weeks I did nothing but write out my first attempted novel, "The Vampire in Times Square." I scrapped the project when I discovered that there was another Vampire Romanace novel taking the world by storm (Twilight).

I might return to it someday, and it was great inspiration for Skeleton Crew, but for now, it's just a fun bout of fiction writing. Here is one of my favorite excerpts.



PREMISE: Abbey is a new Vampire who's being "trained up" by a lazy homeless Vampire named Macarius. After complaints of going nearly a week without access to a shower, Macarius promises to take Abbey some place to clean up.

****


"Down there!" Macarius cried above the roar of the traffic. Looking at the signs below I saw we were on E 47th Street. There was a white-fronted building with a red awning over the door sporting the letter "Y."
"We're going to the Y?" I asked him.
He grinned at me again. "Perfect place for it."
'But the lights are all out. Is it open?"
"No," said Macarius shaking his head. "It's closed for refurbishing."
"You mean we're breaking in?" I asked in disbelief.
"No, we're going to walk through the door," said the Vampire, and I couldn't tell if he was kidding or not. Making sure no one was watching, we descended to the sidewalk and approached the dark doorway.
"You can't break into the Y!" I hissed at him.
"Y not?" he asked making a "Y" in the air with his fingers.
I was temporarily stunned. "Was that a joke you just made?" I asked nonplussed. Macarius gave a throaty chuckle at my surprise.
"I think you're rubbing off on me," he said touching his lips. He laughed as my face burned scarlet again and turned to the door.
"I thought vampires couldn't go anywhere they weren't invited. I read that somewhere. Is that true?" I said trying to change the subject.

Macarius nudged my shoulder, and pointed to a dusty sign in the unlit window."Welcome to the East St. YMCA," it read just before the notice stating "closed for renovations, please look us up at these 3 nearby locations," listing their branches in Queens, West Side and Harlem.

"You mean? I asked..."Anyplace with a welcome mat?" I asked, a little unnerved. Macarius snorted.
"That only applies if we want to do this..." He walked up to the locked doors and then he seemed to become transparent for a moment. I was aware of a sharp cold wind as Macarius seemed to dissolve into a cloud and then as quickly as it happened, he was on the other side of the glass door. Me motioned for me to follow. I approached the door cautiously. I had just seen it happen, but had no idea how he had done it.

"How do you do that?" I said as loudly as I dared, raising my shoulders dramatically to make my point clear through the thick glass.
"You forget I have exceptionally good hearing. So do you," came his whisper as clear as if he was right next to me. "Now, do you see that hole between the doors, near the ground where they meet?"
I nodded.
"Try to focus all of your energy on that hole," he said.
"Oh right, easy as that, then," I grumbled and heard his wheezy laugh. I put a hand on each door and stared hard at the tiny gap between the doors until I felt my eyes would bug out of my head. It didn't help that the longer I did it the louder Macarius's snickers and snorts were becoming.

"Do you mind? That's not helping!" I snapped. I looked up to see Macarius's dark shape, doubled over, trying to stifle his laughter and doing a lousy job. Tears were streaming down his cheeks as he clamped his hand harder across his mouth.
"I'm sorry," he said in a high-thin gasp. "Your face...it's just too funny right now." I stood there, hands on hips, waiting for him to finish. After a couple of false endings, he'd finally quieted down, but his mouth was still twitching into involuntary grins, and little laughs punctuated his speech.

"Try (heh-heh)...try giving it a running (heh) s-start," he said clutching his side. I shrugged irritatedly.
"Fine" I snapped and backed up to the edge of the side walk. Closing my eyes and taking a deep breath I tried to summon that crackly, electric feeling in my palms that I had felt in the coffee shop. After a moment, it came and the world became brighter and completely still. I set my jaw and with all the energy I could muster, I ran at the double door. I tried to concentrate on the gap, willing myself to dissolve into smoke like Macarius did. Sadly, my brain interrupted me, suddenly screaming, 'YOU MORON, YOU'RE RUNNING AT A SOLID OBJECT!" Half of my body tried to stop while the other half tried to keep going, the result being that I ran into the doors headfirst and bounced off them like a super-ball.

When the explosions of light stopped clanging in my head I looked up to see two Macariuses standing over me. My eyes uncrossed themselves and there was suddenly one, offering me his arm.
"We'll go together, c'mon," he said and taking my hand we walked through the glass doors together. Dissolving felt like being enclosed in a freezing cold mist, but I could still feel Macarius's warm arm wrapped around mine tightly, it seemed that there was part of him still with me when we reformed on the other side in the dark foyer.
"Thanks for coming back for me," I said earnestly.
"Anytime," said Macarius, his mouth still twitching. "I had to wait until I stopped laughing though," he added in a strangled high voice. "That last one nearly killed me." He broke off into a fit of laughter again.

I frowned and dropped his hand, annoyed with myself. Looking over my shoulder, I noticed a large crack running through the pane on the left front door and that the glass had warped.

15 comments:

Janet Lingel Aldrich said...

I like Macarius. I'm not a vamp fan, really, but I'd like to read more of this!

Marisa Birns said...

So newbie vampires have to learn a thing or two. :)

This was quite amusing. I do like Macarius, even if he laughs a lot at someone else's foibles. Heh.

Tony Noland said...

I like the interaction; you have an ear for dialogue.

John Wiswell said...

I kind of wanted to smack the guy for saying 'Y' with a 'Y.' I wonder if that would get me bitten and/or mauled.

Sam said...

I like Macarius, he's a hoot. Within a couple of paragraphs I found myself wanting to know more about these characters, encouraged by their great dialogue. I'd love to read more of their adventures.

Eric J. Krause said...

This was a fun story. Never really think of vampires needing to take a shower, and where they have to go to get one. Macarius may laugh a lot at her expense, but at least he comes back to help. Good story!

Unknown said...

I haven't (and never will) read or seen any of the Twilight series, but I KNOW your story is way better.

Who knew vampires had a sense of humor? This is very enjoyable. And you really do have a great ear for dialogue. Well done!

Mari said...

Macarius is a great name and they are very amusing. I hope you'll come back to this story and finish the book!

Anonymous said...

I liked this story- I do hope that you'll finish it when the Twilight fever has abated.

Monica Marier said...

Thanks everyone for your nice comments. I haven't been getting to this Friday's flashes as much as I usually do (bloody sick again).
Your notes were like a warm bowl of chicken soup.

I fully intend to pick up this story again when the Vampire fever has died a bit and when I know exactly what I want to do with the characters. : )

Icy Sedgwick said...

Oh I really like this, actually. You don't usually get to see the "how the vampire learns to do his vampire" stuff, and this made me think a little of the subway scene in Ghost. You should totally revisit this!

Jax said...

I'm glad to hear we'll see more of them! That was great. I feel for Abbey, but and ROTFL with Macarius.

Cathy Olliffe-Webster said...

If I was Macarius I'd be laughing at Abbey's wide-eyed wonder, too. You have a couple of really cool characters here and you should develop them further when you get the chance. Twilight isn't the only vamp book on the block -- they've been writing them since the original Dracula and probably before, and they always will... no reason why you shouldn't write your own. I'd read it!

A. S. Boudreau said...

I love these kind of vamp stories. :) I'd love to read more!

Laurita said...

Great dialogue. These characters are fun and I'd really like to see more of them.